X-Git-Url: http://shamusworld.gotdns.org/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi?a=blobdiff_plain;ds=inline;f=include%2Fgrid-controls.html;h=edcb0e8029b3233c8e6d2db53bb4f30f00a9d2cf;hb=9d52056402cba1b2abc8d26e1c1fa33e8ebb4a7d;hp=72df83ec9fc56a8cc29615d9c1c69085048180e8;hpb=fc55149168a9d75cf6760d96558d63cbdbbbc5df;p=ardour-manual diff --git a/include/grid-controls.html b/include/grid-controls.html index 72df83e..edcb0e8 100644 --- a/include/grid-controls.html +++ b/include/grid-controls.html @@ -1,159 +1,137 @@ - -
- Ardour's editor utilizes a grid to assist in the placement of regions - on the timeline, or with editing functions that need to happen at a specific - point in time. This snapping of the cursor and various objects to the - grid can be toggled on or off, as does its behaviour, and grid units. -
- -- There are two ways to think about aligning material to a grid. The first and - most obvious one is where an object's position is clamped to grid lines. In - Ardour, this is called absolute snap and is commonly used when - working with sampled material where audio begins exactly at the beginning of a - file, note or region. -
+- The second, relative snap, is used when an object's position relative - to the grid lines is important. In music, this allows to move objects around - without changing the "feel" (or timing) of a performance. + Snap will cause region drags and other mouse-driven + operations to jump to positions determined by the nearest snap + setting when the mouse is close enough to this snap point. Snapping + is sometimes (improperly) referred to as magnetism.
-- Absolute snap is the default method of snapping in Ardour. + The Snap options are set in the Preferences. Those + include the Snap Threshold which determines how close the mouse has + to be to a snap anchor to induce a snap, and the snap anchors + themselves, among:
+- While dragging objects, pressing the absolute snap modifier key(s) switches - from absolute to relative snap. + The Grid helps visually placing items in time. It will draw + lines at selected intervals as chosen in the drop-down selector. + Musical grid settings (Bar to Sextuplets) obviously + depend on the tempo and meter, so + changing the tempo or meter will rescale the grid, while absolute grid + settings (Timecode, etc…) won't be affected.
-- The snap can also be entirely disabled by using the snap modifier (see below). +
+ A word about time signature in this context: a time signature + consists of 2 numbers. The upper one determines how many beats are in + a bar, the lower one, what division of a note a beat represents (e.g. + : 4 stands for a quarter note). At e.g. 80 bpm, one beat lasts 1/80th min, so + 0.75 sec. If the time signature is 3/4, there are 3 beats in a bar so + a bar lasts for 3 × 0.75 = 2.25 sec. Choosing 1/8 Note + as the grid setting will draw grid lines every 0.75 ÷ 1/4 + × 1/8 = 0.375 sec.
- Note that in relative snap mode the reference point is taken to be the distance - to the nearest grid line. + The grid density can be either based on musical time:
-- Note also that when an object lies exactly on a grid line, there will be no - difference between relative and absolute snap modes. -
+- The realtive snap and snap modifiers (along with other modifier keys) may be set - in Edit > Preferences > User Interaction + Or absolute time:
-- For common use patterns, it is recommended to assign a unique key for one - snap modifier and two keys for the other in such a way that they share an - otherwise unused key. For example, the snap modifier may be chosen to be the - key and the relative snap modifier to be the and keys. -
. - -- Using the above modifications, Ardour supports three different modes of snapping - to the grid: +
+The grid consist of lines running vertically in the edit canvas. When +zooming too far out, the grid can become too coarse. Ardour tries not +to show âtoo manyâ or âtoo fewâ grid lines depending on the zoom level, +based on the Approximate Grid/Ruler granularity (pixels) Preferences parameter. +As a consequence, when the Grid is in the Snap anchors, it is possible +that items snap in-between the grid lines sometimes. Thatâs expected +behavior.
-No Grid | -disables the grid. All objects move freely in this mode. - In No Grid mode, the grid may be temporarily activated - by pressing the snap modifier (for absolute snap) or switch to relative snap - by pressing the relative snap modifier. |
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Grid | -activates normal snapping. All positions of objects snap to the grid. (See - Grid Units below to change the grid). - Moving an object in "Grid"-mode, does not change its position until - the mouse is far enough for the object to reach the next grid line. - To maintain an objects' position relative to the grid line, the "snap relative" - modifier can be used. When holding down this - modifier during a drag, the dragged object will jump while maintaining its - original distance from the line. - New objects will always be created at grid - points. - Holding down the snap modifier will disable the current grid - setting and allow you to move the object freely. |
Magnetic | -is a less strict type of snapping. Objects can still be moved to any - position, but positions close to the relative or absolute grid points will snap. - In order to move an object very close to a snap point, it may be necessary to - zoom in to prevent snapping to that point, or to use the snap modifier to - disable snap completely. As with Grid mode, the snap modifier will disable - snap completely while the absolute snap modifier will move the "notch" of - Magnetic snap to the grid lines. |
- By default, a region's beginning will be used as the reference for both types of - snapping, this behaviour can be changed by setting a sync point - in the region, by selecting the region(s) and pressing V. This will set the - sync point to the current edit point. + By default, a region's beginning will be used as the reference for + both types of snapping, this behaviour can be changed by setting a + sync point in the region, by selecting the region(s) and + pressing V. This will set the sync point to the current edit point.
-- The selector next to the grid mode selector defines the size of the grid - elements. The grid can be set to several different units: + Snapping can be temporarily disabled by using a keyboard modifier while + editing, by default.
- -CD Frames | -A CD Frame is 1/75th of a second. Snapping to CD Frames (using absolute snap) can be used to avoid issues with CD track lengths. |
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Timecode Frames/Seconds/Minutes | -The duration of a frame depends on the timecode settings for the session. |
Seconds/Minutes | -These are absolute time units, unaffected by sample rate or timecode settings |
Beats/N | -Set the grid to units of 1/N beats, where N can be 128, 64, 32, 16, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2. The duration of a grid unit will depend on the tempo and meter in effect at that point in the timeline. |
Beats | -Set the grid to whole beats. The duration of a grid unit will depend on the tempo and meter in effect at that point in the timeline. |
Bars | -Set the grid to whole bars. The duration of a grid unit will depend on the tempo and meter in effect at that point in the timeline. |
Markers | -The grid lines are the markers. |
Region Starts | -The grid lines are constructed from region start points (see below). |
Region Ends | -The grid lines are constructed from region end points (see below). |
Region Syncs | -The grid lines are constructed from region sync points. |
Region Bounds | -The grid lines are constructed from region start or end points. |
- To use Region starts/ends/syncs/bounds as snap choices, it is necessary to have either: + Snapping can also be temporarily set to relative, i.e. snapping will + occur relative to the current position of the dragged item. E.g. if + the Grid is in the Snap options, and the grid is set to + Bars, using this keyboard modifier while dragging will snap + at every bar relative to the region's beginning (or sync point) + instead of the absolute musical bars.
- -- If items are moved on a track, and only the current track is selected, then - snapping will only happen with other regions on the same track. This means - that enabling Edit > Preferences > Editor > Link - Selections of Regions and Tracks will make the "Region" grid unit - unusable. This option should not be used in conjunction with the use any of the - Region grid units. + The keyboard modifiers are defined in the Preferences.